Comcast to buy GE's 49% stake in NBCUni

2/12/13 4:49 PM EST

Comcast announced today that it is buying out General Electric Corp's 49 percent stake in NBCUniversal for approximately $16.7 billion.

Comcast has had a 51 percent-stake in NBC Universal, parent company of NBC News and MSNBC, since 2009. The buy-out will give Comcast full ownership of NBC Universal and is expected to close at the end of the first quarter of this year.

“This is an exciting day for Comcast as we have agreed to accelerate the purchase of NBCUniversal," Comcast chairman and CEO Brian L. Roberts said in a statement. "The management team at GE has been a wonderful partner during the past two years and their support has been very valuable. Our decision to acquire GE's ownership is driven by our sense of optimism for the future prospects of NBCUniversal and our desire to capture future value that we hope to create for our shareholders.

"We believe the terms of the transaction are attractive and have planned for this event by taking a number of financial steps to prepare our balance sheet," he said. "We believe we are in a strong and unique position to continue to grow and build value in our combined company.”

Comcast will also buy the NBC studios and offices at 30 Rockefeller Plaza and the CNBC headquarters in Englewood Cliffs, N.J. It's fair to assume that Comcast will replace the “GE” sign on 30 Rock with either a Comcast or NBCUniversal logo.